It's not their fault, says Chiller

The athletes knew they were using tampered accreditations but Chiller said it was not their fault. She has personally apologised to the athletes.

"It was a very difficult night for them and it shouldn't have come to that," she said.

Chiller said tampering with accreditations to get into venues was widespread.

"It's been a practice that's happened in many Olympic Games and amongst many NOCs," she said.

"I became aware of it a few days earlier and I put a stop to it. I said that's not the way that our team should behave and it shouldn't be facilitated that that practice was put in place."

Chiller said the athletes understood they might have to stay in Rio until Tuesday.

Asked on Saturday how it could not be the fault of the athletes, Chiller replied: "We will complete our own internal investigation about how the circumstances arose that the athletes arrived in the venue with accreditations with a different access code to their own".

Chiller gave a similar answer when asked if there were other people involved in the tampering.

AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong, a lawyer, helped strike a deal with a Rio judge which ensured the athletes avoided conviction and a potential five-year jail term.